Chris Botti – Vol. 1 (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 47:02 minutes | 919 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Blue Note Records
Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Chris Botti gets back to the jazz essence of his artistry on his album, ‘Vol. 1’. The album features beautiful ballad renditions of standards including ‘My Funny Valentine,’ and ‘Someday My Prince Will Come,’ as well as a cover of Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’ and the vocal feature ‘Paris’ with John Splithoff. Produced by David Foster, ‘Vol. 1’ features performances by violinist Joshua Bell, pianist Taylor Eigsti, guitarist Gilad Hekselman and others.
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Chris Botti – Night Sessions (2001)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 & DST64 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 55:50 minutes | Scans included | 4,92 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | 55:36 mins | Scans included | 1,13 GB
At the precise moment when a corporate reshuffling and a reduced roster led to death knells in the press for Columbia Records’ jazz division, Chris Botti was signing on after three albums at rival Verve, the jazz arm of Universal. Along with Bela Fleck, poached from Warner Bros., Botti seemed to represent the new lean-and-mean Columbia Jazz, an eclectic, contemporary artist with considerable crossover potential to go with his jazz legitimacy. While the dominant sound on Botti’s Columbia debut is naturally his haunting, minor-key trumpet playing, highly reminiscent of the more introspective aspect of Miles Davis, his original music, co-written with one-name producer Kipper, is strongly reminiscent of the pop-jazz approach of his most recent employer, Sting, whose tour hiatus created the opportunity for the recording of the album. Sting even contributes a song, the samba-paced “All Would Envy,” complete with lyrics describing a wealthy May-December marriage, sung by Shawn Colvin. But elsewhere his spare, stylish, multi-cultural music provides a guiding principle. Botti is true to the basic tenets of smooth jazz, which hold that a steady beat within a propulsive rhythm track must be maintained, over which the soloist makes his presence felt. But he and Kipper keep things simple, often using an acoustic guitar to create musical textures more suggestive of Rio than west Los Angeles, where the record was actually cut. And even with his less-is-more style of playing, Botti is capable of coming up with melodies that would be strong enough to support lyrics if someone wanted to write them. (A good example is “Light the Stars.”) “Easter Parade,” the final track, is by the members of the Blue Nile, another good touchstone for the trumpeter’s moody, atmospheric sound. The result is a step above most of the cookie-cutter contemporary jazz albums of the day.
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Chris Botti – Impressions (2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:03:04 minutes | 591 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia Records
Trumpeter Chris Botti follows up his 2007 classical-themed album Italia and his smash 2009 concert album Live in Boston with 2012’s Impressions. In many ways, Impressions combines the best of those two earlier albums by featuring more of the classical crossover and Latin-inflected style of Italia with a few pop reinterpretations and a handful of guest vocalists as in much of his previous work. Produced by famed fusion drummer and longtime Botti associate Bobby Colomby, Impressions is a languid and expertly crafted album in which Botti’s burnished, lyrical trumpet tone is often framed against lush orchestrations via arrangers including Vince Mendoza, Gil Goldstein, and others. To these ends, we get a gorgeous take on Frédéric Chopin’s Prelude No. 20 in C Minor, a duet with opera star Andrea Bocelli on the David Foster/Botti composition “Per Te [For You],” and a moving, Miles Davis-inspired duo version of R. Kelly’s “You Are Not Alone” featuring guitarist Leonardo Amuedo. Also intriguing are such cuts as Botti’s brooding and sultry collaboration with jazz piano legend Herbie Hancock on “Tango Suite,” his yearning, cinematic take on Astor Piazzolla’s “Oblivion” with violinist Caroline Campbell, and his stark duet on the Gershwin standard “Summertime” with pianist Foster. Elsewhere, we get a Broadway-inspired rendition of Randy Newman’s “Losing You” featuring country singer Vince Gill, a re-pairing with guitarist Amuedo on the classic “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” and an inspired interpretation of the Louis Armstrong number “What a Wonderful World” featuring guitarist/singer Mark Knopfler. As with most of Botti’s oeuvre, Impressions is a lyrical, romantic, and impeccably produced album that makes the most of the trumpeter’s generous skills. –Matt Collar
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Year: 2009
Genre: Jazz
Duration: 2:03:18
Director: Bobby Colomby
Starring: Chris Botti, trumpet; Boston Pops cond. by Keith Lockhart; Sting, Yo-Yo Ma, Josh Groban, John Mayer, Katharine McPhee, Lucia Micarelli, Steven Tyler, Dominic Miller, Sy Smith
Chart-topping jazz trumpeter Chris Botti and special guests performed two star-studded concerts at the historic Boston Symphony Hall with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops on September 18 and 19, 2008. Special guests include Josh Groban, Yo-Yo Me, John Mayer, Katharine McPhee, Lucia Micarelli, Sting and Steven Tyler.
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